Formula One at its best! (F1 Digital Plus)

Member Name: mark_scott

Product:	F1 Digital Plus
Date:	20/04/02 (1945 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Continuous Live coverage, Interactive Services

Disadvantages: £12 seems steep, Only on Sky

THE BACKGROUND
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At each race, there are two broadcasters in residence: The host broadcaster and Bernie Ecclestone's Formula One Administration. THe host broadcaster (ITV in the case of the British Grand Prix) co-ordinates the Free To Air coverage of each race. Bernie's company deals with the digital interactive service.

Sky struck a deal with Formula One Administration to broadcast the service via its pay per view Sky Box Office System on Digital Satellite.

THE SERVICE
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If you are a Sky Digital customer, you can order the race weekend for £12 via Box Office. You are paying for the 4 practise sessions, the Qualifying and the race itself. Not only that, You are purchasing live and uninterrupted coverage of each event.

IS THAT ALL?
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You are wondering if uninterrupted coverage of all sessions is worth the £12 and some of you may think it isn't but F1 Digital + doesn;t stop there! It offers the viewer the chance to interract with the coverage like never before! Here is what you get when you press the red button on you control:

1. MASTER CHANNEL
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The master channel is the equivelent of ITV's coverage. it offers a mix of interviews and live commentry provided by Perry McCarthy and Damon Hill. This is also the first channel you see before the interactive starts.

2. SUPER CHANNEL
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This channel comprises non stop action involving the best camera angles in the business. Fronted by John Watson and Ben Edwards, This serves as a good base if you want to be in the action

3. TRACK A
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This channel is dedicated to the front of the grid, it stays with the leaders and follows their progress throughout the race.

4. TRACK B
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This channel follows the major battle on the track behind the leaders.

5. DATA CHANNEL
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This channel provides a live data stream from the circuit. It shows times and splits from each session and also provides data on track temperature. The purple times signify the fastest, green times signify personal best.

6. ON BOARD
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All the cars have fitted cameras, the majority of them facing forward but a few which face backwards and one on the front wing. This channel provides the closest experience to racing, it has NO commentry, just the engine squeal of the cars.

7. PIT LANE
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This channel is devoted to the pits and action off the track - each pit stop is filmed in detail, and you get to see inside the garages and listen to pit-to-car radio broadcasts as they happen (JPM Will always regret swearing during the Brazilian GP!)

8. HIGHLIGHTS
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Did you miss anything of importance? This channel will fill you in, it plays a rolling selection of highlights from each session including interviews and crashes.

What Else?
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In addition to this, you gain features across all channels which ITV do not offer - you get instant notification of yellow and red flags and also of the safety car by large blobs at the top of the screen. You are also informed of the time / laps left in each session and You also get to see messages from Race Control or teams.

As well as this, you are given stats on each driver and track, finally you can see points and positions in the championship.

Is it easy to use?
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WHen you start the intereactive services, you get a split screen showing 8 channels at once, you use the arrow keys and select to move between them. Since the third race, it has been even easier with each screen being assigned a number meaning you don't have to go back to the main menu.

Overall Impressions
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I have used this since the start of the season and now I c
annot go back to ITV as I will miss all the value added features, Yes I admit that £12 is a lot to pay for an event but it does cover every session you need and also if you miss the live broadcast, you can watch repeats with full interactivity.

There is no Murray Walker but I can;t say I've missed him, there are also no adverts and if the race gets boring, I can always switch views to one of the other camers.

Sky has implemented this channel extremely well and have used the technology of DIgital TV to the full. The number short cuts were an improvement over the system that went before.

What would I like to see?
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TO further improve the F1 Digital + service, I would like to see an option where I can run with a certain driver, also I wouild like to control replays like you would with a Sky Plus system, viewing them from different standpoints.

In Summary
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F1 Digital Plus is nothing short of revolutionary, it is the first continuous and interactive service which puts the viewer firmly in control of the race, £12 does seem steep for a Box Office event but you are getting full interactive coverage of every session during the weekend. And there is no chance of missing anything....indeed you get to see things people on ITV never do (Heidfeld destroying the medical car....) In short, nothing short of amazing!

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